Fraternity and sorority rush should be delayed

Posted: Wednesday, September 20, 2000

Concerning the issue of when to have rush for sororities and fraternities at the University of Georgia, I offer a few thoughts about mismatching.

During the 23 years I served as a campus minister at UGA, I counseled with many students who felt that they selected the wrong sorority or fraternity; and paid a high emotional price for doing so. When asked how they might have made a better choice, many have said something like this: The way rush is set up you are under a lot of pressure (rushed) to make a very important decision, with long term consequences, without having enough knowledge about the group, its leadership and members.

When asked how one might make a decision that increases matching and reduces mismatching, many have said that it would help a lot to have rush in the spring, instead being rushed in the fall.

Even though there is an element of fairness in the fact that everyone is rushing more or less at the same time, the emotional pain from mismatching, can be intense and long lasting.